The Purge (2013: James DeMonaco)
It has a
relatively low IMDB rating and a relatively low
rotten tomatoes percentage and some reviews that just trash it like
Simon Abrams of rogerebert.com, but in some ways I liked it regardless of its plot issues (and there are plenty if you think about it, though if you read through the forums on IMDB they come up with many that I do not agree with.) My brother calls it a glorified
The Twilight Zone episode (he likes it) as it uses an idea and keeps most of the action in a singular place -- the house of James Sandin (Ethan Hawke.) I do think a lot of the complaints on the film have more to do with what was expected of the film versus what the film actually was. They wanted much more violence and would have been happier if the story took place in an inner city.
The strength of the film is in the idea of a purge. In this dystopia a once-a-year happening that is used as a catharsis to weed out your yearly aggressions. Certain weapons can be used (I do wish they went into more details on this during the film) to most people (of course not the politicians) and the results of these yearly rituals are a lower crime-rate. The movie delves into this unfairness as a social-economic tool (obviously having more money means you are better protected, but it hatches some other ideas of thinking you are protected when you are actually not), but it only dips into this area in which I think it could easily have been more philosophical and more attention should have been paid to the dialogue (and pacing.) It has a few subtle points like the Bloody Stranger (the stranger the family protects at the cost of being sieged) having dog-tags (what was his military background.) Part of the problem with this film was that it tried to take a more moderate approach by playing down the middle touching some social and political issues and also trying to be a slasher film.
I like the sociopathic Polite Stranger who initiates the siege, somewhat bizarrely but effectively played by Rhys Wakefield. I tend to like calm and calculating antagonists. The Sandin family just happen to get in the way of his fun. He is probably a spoiled society frat boy the rest of year, he just happens to be homicidal for those few hours in his God-given New Founders rights.
The whole last act I could have done without. It was predicable based on dialogue early on (one aspect I was hoping to avoid when I noticed it), though it does add an interesting uneasiness and fits within the themes of the movie. Though that night I would take the advice Stone Cold Steve Austin used to give: Don't Trust Anybody.
) and realised they can pick similar up and with their name attached can charge a much bigger premium than 88 can. it's the Criterion effect,people are buying for the label not the movies in most cases.
Baby Kong is a character though,a decent follow up.